The Explorations of a Wee Pair of Scottish Feet

January 17, 2013February 28, 2013

West to Kangaroo Island or east to Kangaroo Valley…

A blog entry later than expected due to a tumultuous couple of days. Having been excited to start my project I was more than a little disappointed to find my first couple of days mainly consisting of weeding and rubbish collection, and in sanctuaries rather than the wild. It became apparent that we were doing daily projects that repeat each week rather than an ongoing project that you joined for x amount of weeks. Whilst I appreciate that this is still conservation work, it is not what I thought I would be doing, is not what my notion of conservation is and not the way it had been portrayed in the real gap advert at all… Tomorrow we are even cleaning a warehouse… It feels a bit like cheap local labour… The reason I chose this programme over other shorter ones was because I had believed it was a longer and would be more substantial and hopefully allow me to reconsider geography as a career move.

Disappointed, I spoke to one of the staff to ascertain if there was anything else in the rest of Australia that lasted a bit longer and would allow me to feel like I’ve achieved something. She got back to me with a week long seeding project on kangaroo island or a 2 week planting project in kangaroo valley near Canberra. Told that I may have to pay yet more money to potentially secure a place on the kangaroo island project I am more than a little frustrated with this situation. With the belief that there will be more people in kangaroo valley with the opportunity to meet more people, Lynn’s travel list with kangaroo island on it and the opportunity to spend a week there culminating in a festival, and the objective of focusing on output and achievement from a project, I have not quite decided which way to go… Wanting to come back to Melbourne after, kangaroo island may let me do the great ocean road, kangaroo valley – the opportunity to see somewhere that wasn’t even on my radar… Options presented and decisions to be made, this is maybe the time for a straw poll….

Kangaroo Valley would be good if they can guarantee there will be more people on the project. Is it only a $100 extra cost? Is that for your travel? I think it is disappointing at the very least that they are not delivering what they promised. Are they not prepared to meet the additional cost for Kangaroo Valley? Are more people expected where you are now and what will the work be if you stay? Only you can decide what is best. Good luck.

I know george. Ridiculous. Dad – yes it is ‘only’ but i have already spent a lot on this and am already not happy to be paying for it. That $100 is for the ferry over which CVA would pay for if i had been in the adelaide office. As the prog is popular to reserve a space i have been asked to pay the ferry fare on top of the fare I would spend getting to adelaide. If i stay i will be doing weed management for the rest of my stay… More than a little disappointing. I feel i shouldn’t spend any more on this. If i hadn’t paid i would have given up. Not many people expected here. Ridiculous x